Immigration Article of the Day: Sara Deutch Schotland, Finding a Home for Immigrant Stories: A Plea to Include Fiction Involving Immigrant Women in Law and Literature and Immigration Policy Courses

Sara Deutch Schotland, Finding a Home for Immigrant Stories: A Plea to Include Fiction Involving Immigrant Women in Law and Literature and Immigration Policy Courses, 33 Geo. Immigration Law Journal 39 (2018)

Among its accomplishments, the study of law and literature introduces law students to the impact of law on marginalized individuals. Law and literature courses emphasize the impact of criminal law on minorities and other marginalized groups. This essay proposes that immigrant stories should receive similar attention in students’ legal education. This essay first discusses why immigration stories should be included in both law and literature and immigration policy courses. Through fiction, the reader gains a visceral appreciation for the drastic consequences of immigration regime, including for example, policies that govern the deportation of those that have entered illegally or that restrict the entry of those seeking admission as refugees. The article then discusses the perspective that women immigrants’ stories bring to the classroom, stories which often showcase the double bind often experienced by women who are not only marginalized by immigrant status but also face the impact of patriarchal domination and intimate partner violence. Lastly, the article discusses several short stories that illustrate women immigrants’ struggle to overcome barriers to admission and restrictions on their exercise of autonomy.

Here is the article:  Download Finding a Home

KJ